Editorials

Cleared of a felony? Not always

Posted:
05/13/2013 04:44:21 PM MDT

Updated:
05/13/2013 04:44:54 PM MDT

Since 1989, more than 2,000 people convicted of serious crimes in the United States have been exonerated, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a joint project of Michigan and Northwestern law schools.

The number of wrongfully convicted whose names were never cleared will never be known.

Miscarriage of justice is bad enough. But for many of the exonerated, what happens after they're freed from prison is just as bad because their felony record isn't automatically expunged.

Researchers Evan Mandery and Amy Shlosberg, in a study published in the Albany Law Review, found that a third of 118 exonerated inmates still had criminal records after their names were cleared.

Their study was noted in a recent New York Times article about the difficulties exonerated inmates face when they haven't or can't get their criminal records expunged: the inability to get a job, housing or government benefits. The can't buy or own a firearm and, in many states, they can't vote or hold public office. Then there's the stigma of having a felony conviction, even though it's been vacated.

The New York Times article notes that expungement laws vary widely from state to state, and some make it particularly difficult and expensive for exonerated inmates to clear their records. That's adding insult to injury. One injustice doesn't deserve another.

Too many states apparently don't feel the obligation to completely right a judicial wrong. They should.

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